The World's Leading Independent Agencies: Kolle Rebbe

When we were asked to write this, it made us pause for a moment. We had
to think about ourselves, and who we are, before we could write anything
that would enlighten others.

THE SOUNDTRACK TO THIS FEATURE ...

'If you don't get what you want' - deus

We'd like to ask you a question. What are the advantages of small
independent bands, who've been around for ages and only play in small
clubs, where sweat drips from the ceiling, in comparison to large bands
who have been completely wrung out by the media?

When we say "wrung out", we mean bands that have been cast in TV shows,
which may be able to fill stadia with herds of 40,000 consumption-happy
and acne-faced teens, but who are physically incapable of uttering a
single sound without their 30-strong management teams.

'Pissing in the Wind' - Badly Drawn Boy

Do you have one of those songs that hardly anybody else has ever heard
of, apart from you, which covers you in goose bumps from head to toe
every time you hear it? Or a favourite band that has become inseparable
from some of the greatest moments in your life, a band that has
accompanied you for years, and has contributed a few songs to the
soundtrack of your life? A proper band that has grown and matured over
the years.

If you can answer "yes" to any of the above, and if the above rings a
bell, you obviously understand what we mean.

We are one of those independent bands. And we like being just that. You
may not know us. That doesn't matter. We exist, regardless; and we prove
it every day, with every sound we make.

And we know how to play well, because we know exactly what we're doing.
We can do everything, we have the heart to do anything; and if things
sound a little off-key, we try again. Until it sounds good. We can try
ourselves out. And we can also be positive. Even when we create
dissonances.

We can hit some pretty oblique notes, and we can do mainstream as well:
we mix way-out freestyle jazz, which almost rips your brain apart,
shredded-up punk rock and ever-so-effervescent pop music with smoky
whiskey blues, seasoned with electronic dance beats. Why? Because we
can. And, most importantly, because we can afford to.

'Hold on to Your Genre' - Les Savy Fav

When the telephone rings, and a 212 code blinks in the display, we stay
calm. We don't get weekly control calls from headquarters in New York.
We aren't under any pressure to fulfil our monthly record sales quotas;
there are no departments with operational targets watching over us, with
some controller who has never set foot in our agency in his life, let
alone in our country.

We don't have to justify ourselves in front of hordes of shareholders,
who were promised the impossible by the clueless. And we don't have to
adapt weak ideas for the German and Czech markets, just because an idea
was lucky enough to work for the Vietnamese market. We don't have to
play every gig. We can do what we please.

Of course, we do make some mistakes. But we're the ones making them. And
we learn from them. Each of our mistakes, and every one of our
successes, takes us forward. Us and only us. No chief executive in
London or New York or Hong Kong.

'Free' - Cat Power

Our recording studio is our agency, Kolle Rebbe; the stages we perform
on are every communication channel that you can imagine.

Our only office in the world is right here in Hamburg, and it's all
under one roof. Each job is done by one team. Our routes are short,
architecturally and hierarchically. Despite quite impressive growth, we
have remained small, and we like it like that.

Currently, we have around 140 band members, and, of course, we have our
differences occasionally, sometimes even a squabble or two. We're
people, after all, not machines. And we know why we do what we do: for
the results. We work together. Not against each other. There is no
marked, purposely positioned competitive thinking between individual
departments, there is no rat race fired up from the outside.

And there are no internal company meetings you have to reach by
plane.

We're very happy this is how it is.

'On Our Way' - Double

KOREFE is our band room, where we experiment professionally; our special
department for design and brand innovation. It stands for Kolle Rebbe
Form und Entwicklung (Kolle Rebbe Form and Development).

KOREFE is free jazz, punk rock and experimentalism all rolled into one,
and all are based on our traditional and classically trained skills.

Since the market always needs new approaches, we like to meet those
demands. And we do it to be successful, not just to polish any old
numbers put forward by any old bosses in the US.

Our main job is, and always will be, to find the best solution for a
client. And to think ahead, obviously.

Currently, 65 per cent of our work is traditional advertising, 30 per
cent is new ideas, and the remaining 5 per cent is completely new
approaches: free-jazz-punk-rock-pop-blues with classical strings and a
piano.

That's the sort of stuff we get prizes for, and how we set new
standards.

"Time Changes Technique" - North of America

Whatever we do, we do it from the heart and with all of our energy.

Several supposedly small independent bands have also shown that if
you're authentic and true to yourself, you can still be successful.
These are the bands which excelled at what they do, and who were unknown
until they caused a revolution ... and all without the help of a
30-strong management team.